They have been a popular option for pet owners taking road trips with their dogs in Sweden for the past decade, but these wonderfully over-engineered Variocages are finally available in North America. Like your car, the cages are designed with crumble zones to absorb impacts during a crash, providing extra protection for your dog inside.
More specifically, the bars on the cage are actually made using telescoping tubes, and the roof and floor are made from segmented sections so that in the event of an accident, the cage will compress instead of immediately crumpling and injuring the animal inside. It doesn’t guarantee a dog will survive, but it considerably improves its chances.
The Variocages aren’t exactly designed to be portable, either. The smallest and lightest version still weighs in at around 38 pounds, and you assemble the cages inside your vehicle to guarantee they fit snugly between the sides and seats so that it doesn’t slide around when driving.
The cages are also not cheap. The smallest version will set you back almost $US750, while the largest model, which can actually hold two dogs, comes in at $US1,800. So you probably need to think of them more as a long-term investment for multiple dogs over the years. But when you see photos like the one above, where the driver in this accident had to be taken to hospital while the dog walked away without a scratch, it certainly seems worth the money. [4×4 North America via Inventor Spot]